In a sunny frame of mind — getting set to jet to Cannes will do that to you — Robert Downey Jr. recently had plenty of good things to say about the twisted comic noir “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (Warner Home Video, $27.98).
“Probably the single greatest publicity of [my] career was the postproduction of this,” Downey said, recalling last year’s Cannes screening. “Even with French subtitles, they were laughing. And enjoying it. I think they just appreciated that it had this Ferrari engine to it — it kept so many plates spinning, and required the audience to have this sharp wit.”
He added: “The lines in this movie, they really should be ringtones, you know?”
In “Kiss Kiss,” Downey plays Harry Lockhart, as awful a thief as he is a Sam Spade-type narrator. He only stumbles into acting when, amid a robbery gone awry, cops chase him into a movie audition. And soon, he’s embroiled in a murder mystery, flanked by his childhood heartthrob (Michelle Monaghan) and a gay private eye (Val Kilmer).
“The great thing is how the film pushed the conventions of narration and what a hero is supposed to be,” Downey said. “For someone who in the beginning is so incapable of hitting his ass with both hands — he can barely narrate this great story of his — he has the serendipitous thing where he [discovers] he had what he needed all along.”
Downey acknowledged a certain affinity for Lockhart. After all, he has his own troubled past to keep him humble.
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“It’s pretty obvious, and it’s not easy, but if you stop doing the stuff that yields highly unpleasant results, you’re pretty bound to enjoy the effect,” he said. “I’m enjoying the effect of staying out of my own way and doing the thing I came here to do 25 years ago, which is make movies — and hopefully get the girl. Now I’ve got a 12-year-boy [Indio Falconer Downey] and he’s actually young Harold — that’s his first credit on screen.”
Downey, who has just finished an album and is working on a book, said he wants to set a good example. “It’s all about staying engaged in life and loving it. That’s the thing about Harry Lockhart. He is such an optimist. He wants everything to turn out all right. And in the end he prevails. That’s what I’m working on, you know?”
Good karma for `Dharma’
Also new this week is “Dharma & Greg” Season One (Fox Home Entertainment, $39.98) — the comedy that, star Jenna Elfman said, taught her the fundamentals of funny when it bowed in 1997.
“It transformed me artistically, doing `Dharma & Greg’ every week,” said Elfman, fresh off inking a deal with CBS for a series in development. “It really strengthened my comedic skills. Besides what it did for my career, which I am so grateful for, it really gave me confidence to do comedy. It wasn’t accolades that did it; it was me rehearsing and doing a comedic performance for five years — me knowing for myself that I could do it. I trained as a classical ballerina my whole life, so I know what it’s like: You have to be always improving. It’s like training for the Olympics, except you’re in the Olympics while you’re training.”
Elfman said she will always be proud of playing Dharma Finklestein Montgomery because the role bucked trends.
“It was rare to have a women character that was not cynical or bitter or having a rough go of it,” she noted. “Her conflict came from being such a unique individual, and going against the status quo-ness of the world. I got to do so many fun things as that character; there was so much physical comedy I got to do. The chemistry was great, and it just always felt timeless to me.”
As for her new TV show, which is in the development stages, “the word `hilarious’ comes to mind,” Elfman said. “That’s what I want to do. The goal is to crack myself up while I’m doing it and make it hip to my sensibilities. I want to explore more physical comedy and just have fun. Because if I’m having fun, people are having fun — and that formula worked on `Dharma & Greg’ too.”
Something else worked for Elfman as well. “I was so happy doing the show, and that first season was so adventurous and so exciting for me,” she said. “If people watch and ask, `Wow, was she having that much fun?’ the answer is, `Yes, absolutely yes.'”
Or, as Ms. Dharma herself might proclaim: “It was all organic. Not synthetic fun. It was deep, deep organic fun.”
Fit for any “Austin Powers” double feature is the shagadelic new DVD of “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (Fox Home Entertainment, $26.98). This wild, decadent 1970 psychedelic parody of 1967’s “Valley of the Dolls” brandishes a screenplay written (and audio commentary supplied) by Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. “Silicon Valley of the Dolls,” anyone?
Out on DVD next week: Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 1, “Lois & Clark” Season 3, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” Season 4, “NYPD Blue” Season 4, “The Omen,” “Syriana,” “The Trouble With Harry,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”
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Got a DVD question or quandary? Write to Louis R. Carlozo at [email protected]. Include your name and hometown and your question could wind up in a future On the Small Screen column.